


Now I'm Gonna Use My Own Voice, I'm Gonna Sing a Song of My Choice

by metaphoricallylivin



Series: Earth 25: Oh, Yeah I'm An Ugly Mess [3]
Category: DCU
Genre: AAC Devices, Friendship, Gen, Past Abuse, autistic characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-28 22:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10840761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metaphoricallylivin/pseuds/metaphoricallylivin
Summary: Friendship was new for both of them, they'd both been denied a childhood they were just starting to reclaim.





	Now I'm Gonna Use My Own Voice, I'm Gonna Sing a Song of My Choice

**Author's Note:**

> I used the "Past Abuse" tag because Toby and Cass were both abused and this influences how they behave. Also can you please leave me comments? Seriously it takes two seconds and it makes my day so much, Toby is an OC of mine and I'm worried people might not like him...
> 
> The title is taken from Bright Idea by Mother Mother.

Cassandra Wayne lived in a tall building called the Clock Tower. It was visible from a couple streets away and had a huge clock on the top and it was a half mile from Gotham Academy. Therefore Cassandra would usually walk herself home. 

 

After 4 weeks of school she'd made a friend, one who didn't ask if she was stupid since she didn't talk. Toby, like her, had to take a mechanics class when all the other students went to foreign language. They had to sit in a room with a teacher who would make Toby read aloud and Cass copy letters. Occasionally she'd leave the room and Toby would move from his seat to next to Cass. He'd talk to her without an expectation of her responding, one morning he came in and waited once again for the teacher to leave.

 

“I brought you something,” he said. He had picked up his backpack as he moved towards her seat in the special education room. He pulled a tablet out of his backpack. “It's my old one, I worked for my neighbor to buy it. Anyways, I did some research on ways to help mute people communicate, or just people who have trouble talking and stuff. I took everything off of the tablet and I downloaded an app for you.”

 

Toby handed Cass the tablet, she wanted to tell him she already had a tablet back home and she didn't need his old one. Instead after a few seconds of him smiling and holding it out to her, she took it. It had a case on it, pretty standard looking black case that could fold up into a stand if needed. There had been a name written on it, but it had been gone over with black sharpie that didn't quite match the rest of the case. In yellow her name was written in big, block letters. It wasn't Toby’s handwriting because it was too precise and none of the letters were turned around or missing.

 

“Yellow, like your backpack,” Toby said. “Can I show you how to use the app?” Toby pointed to the tablet and Cass nodded after a second. She didn't need him to point, but Toby talked with his hands and fidgeted a lot so she assumed it was second nature.

 

“Okay so you either tap on the object you want it to say or you can type out what you want it to say. It's also preset with helpful phrases like ‘Thank you’ or ‘My name is Cassandra, call me Cass’,” after he finished his explanation he handed the tablet back to Cass.

 

Cass pressed the line that read “Thank you.” It read the words out loud and Toby beamed at her.

 

That day she went home and used the tablet to talk. It wasn't quite talking because it wasn't her voice, but she was being understood better than she'd ever been.

 

[I have a friend, can he come here after school tomorrow?]

 

“Umm, Cass this isn't really somewhere you can bring other people,” Babs said, her voice and body language showed she was apologetic. “What's his name?”

 

[Toby Head]

 

Babs’ body language changed, she stiffened, but at the same time the corners of her mouth curled into a smile.

 

“He can come over, tell him that Jason can pick him up at 7? He can have dinner with us,” Babs said.

 

[You know him?]

 

“I made his identity. As a favor to his…” Babs trailed off.

 

Cass simply smiled and nodded before switching to the other app on the tablet. It was skype, Toby said that he didn't have a phone so they would have to use skype. Cass’s heart had soared when Toby called her his friend. She had a friend, that was new and exciting.

 

* * *

 

Toby and Cass walked from Gotham Academy to the Clock Tower together. Toby kept his eyes on his feet the entire time, making sure he didn't step on any cracks. Cass had the tablet in her backpack so she simply watched Toby as he walked.

 

When they got to Barbara’s apartment Cass unlocked the door and entered. Toby followed behind. Babs was waiting in the kitchen for them.

 

“Beth is your sister, right?” Babs asked.

 

Toby tensed up, but slowly nodded. Cass turned down to her tablet and quickly moved her fingers.

 

[Beth is very cute!]

 

“Thank you,” Toby said, his voice was calm and quiet.

 

“Jason said that your training has been going very well,” Babs said. “Maybe Cass could help you.”

 

[I can]

 

“Thank you, Cass,” Toby smiled a little bit.

 

* * *

 

Fighting Cass was hard. She could predict everything he was going to do and knew how to counter it. It took her almost no time to get Toby subdued. After she'd finished she'd jump back and enthusiastically smile, clearly waiting for Toby to feel better and get up.

 

“Okay?” Cass asked, she was grinning and she'd been careful to not hurt Toby at all. When she didn't have her tablet she relied on her speech. She had trouble forming words often, her sentences often being just one word. Body language was how she made her words makes sense.

 

“I'm good. You're much better than me,” Toby said. Cass responded with a smile and a look that almost said “Of course.”

 

When Cass fought her body language was quick and fluid, she was gentle and purposeful, like every movement was part of a dance she'd practiced to perfection. When Toby fought he didn't have that control, he was weak too. He would go for displays of force rather than carefully calculated movements. Fighting against Toby made Cass more aware that she was perfect and singular in that way. The only person she had ever trained with were Bruce Wayne and David Cain, they were much more of an even match for her than Toby.

 

“Hero?” Cass asked.

 

“What?” Toby was still lying on the ground, clearly not intent on moving soon.

 

Cass picked up the tablet and opened the AAC app.

 

[Do you want to be a vigilante]

 

“Oh. Um, maybe? Sorta. I don't want to be like Batman, or Robin for that matter. The Red Hood’s way of helping people makes much more sense to me, y’know? Some people will never stop hurting people until they're gone. I don't know,” Toby said.

 

[Do you want to kill?]

 

“No, I don't want to. People who are willing to need to exist though, because some people won't stop. If someone hurt you or Beth or Jason I would kill them,” Toby said. “I mean if I could. I'm not very strong.”

 

Cass flinched. She looked visibly taken aback.

 

[Don’t kill for me. Ever.]

  
“If that's what you want, I won't,” Toby said. “Plus I couldn't beat someone who could beat you.”


End file.
